


Things Unsaid

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Post-TLJ Fix-It [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Canon or AU? You decide, Devoted Poe Dameron, M/M, Past Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron Needs A Hug, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Sad Ending, staying up late
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:20:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23568250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: How did Poe recognize Kylo maskless on Crait?
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Finn, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren
Series: Post-TLJ Fix-It [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696417
Kudos: 20
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	Things Unsaid

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Secret Identities 
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Finn shouldn’t be talking with Poe, he knew that. He should have been watching over Rose. Should have. And here he was, talking through Poe’s guilt over Holdo and his belief that he had Resistance blood on his hands. And then...  
  
Poe had recognized Kylo on Crait, without his mask. How was the question. It was a selfish question, but still...  
  
Finn bit his lip. It was hard to find a way to phrase it; he wouldn’t be surprised if this was a sore spot for Poe since the Finalizer. Since Finn had found him. “Poe,” he said, “There’s something I want to ask you. About Kylo.”  
  
“What about him?” Poe was trying to keep his voice level. If not for how quiet he sounded, Finn would say that he wasn’t shaken at all.   
  
"You recognized him on Crait,” Finn said. “When you saw him, walking out.”  
  
Poe nodded. “I remember.” He sighed. “Yeah, you could say that we knew each other. In the past. Before the Finalizer. Before Jakku.”  
  
Finn tried to picture what Kylo Ren was like before he became who he was. Why did he even do what he did? Finn could only conclude that it was some sort of ingratitude on Kylo’s part; it wasn’t like his parents abused him or anything like that. It didn’t stop Kylo from stabbing Han, for stars-knows-what reason.   
  
“Even he was a kid once,” Poe said. “We grew up together.” A beat. “What’s with the staring, Finn?”  
  
Finn shook his head. “It’s fine,” he said. “It’s just...I can’t picture Kylo as a kid.” _Probably the spoiled type,_ Finn thought. _Probably the type who threw tantrums in public._ It wasn’t Finn typically — Finn didn’t like to think negatively about people, even in his head with no repercussions — but it was the only plausible way he could picture Kylo as a child.   
  
But that, he supposed, was more up to Poe to recount than anything else.   
  
Poe continued. "He was a good kid. Sweet. I remember after my mom died...” He laughed, a bit strained. “He told me that she was in the Force. Watching over me. And I could take comfort in that. The idea that no one was ever really gone. And he saw the best in me. Even when I was going through a rough patch at sixteen. Even when...well, for the life of me, I don’t know why.”  
  
Finn bit his lip again. “You’re a good man, Poe.” He remembered Poe telling him that Finn himself was a good man, in their reunion on D’Qar.   
  
“I try to be,” Poe said. “But the way Ben looked at me...I could take or leave anyone else’s flattery. Anyone else’s appreciation. But Ben...he saw the worst of me and yet he never gave up on me. I should give up on him, after what he did to his father, those villagers on Tuanul, me, you, Rey, everyone. But I can’t. Stars, I...can’t.”  
  
He sounded in so much pain. Finn looked at Poe for a long time, looked at the way Poe seemed like his heart had been shattered. Somehow, Kylo — this sadistic, tantrummy, traitorous man — meant something to Poe. Somehow, he had seen the worst of Kylo and still saw the good.   
  
“I should hate him,” Poe said. “I should...”  
  
"I don’t know him well enough,” Finn said. “But I know he meant something to you. Anything at all.”  
  
“He did."  
  
There was something more than friendship there. Finn knew it. He knew Poe hated Kylo Ren. But Ben Solo, this mystery part that Finn had never seen...Poe would probably move the stars for him.   
  
“Buddy,” Finn said, “If there’s anything I can do to just be there...”  
  
Poe nodded. “You’re helping me, Finn. More than you know.” Then, "I’ll watch over Rose. You should get some sleep.”  
  
“You sure?” Finn said.   
  
"I am. I can’t really sleep anyway; might as well make myself useful."  
  
Finn nodded. “Night, Poe.”  
  
“Goodnight."  
  
***  
  
He was going to help Finn look after Rose, no matter what. Even though it hurt. Poe felt slightly better, at least, knowing that he’d talked with Finn — even though he didn’t tell Finn everything, of course. He didn’t tell Finn about how when Ben was eighteen, Poe’s feelings became more romantic in nature. When he loved Ben so deeply he would have moved the stars for him.   
  
The ring was still around his neck on a chain. Gleaming gold, a reminder that in a kinder galaxy, it would have been on Ben’s finger. Ben Solo-Dameron. Poe’s husband. (Or would he have been Poe Dameron-Solo? Poe didn’t know)  
  
Poe caressed it, lightly. He could imagine that in a kinder galaxy, it would have been on Ben’s finger.   
  
_I love you, Ben. And no matter what happens, know that General Dameron is always, always waiting for you..._


End file.
